Abstract

I find myself in full sympathy with Gordon Conway's analysis and prescriptions (Conway 2000).I especially agree with his call for a new culture, with appropriate systems and ongoing institutional support, that provides careful monitoring, open reporting and transparency, and above all, a place for public participation about the impact of plant biotechnology on the environment, human health, and the viability and sustainability of the food system. We need not only the transnational corporations, such as Monsanto to which Conway's remarks were addressed, but also governments of the developed and the developing world, and the scientific establishment, to promote the emergence of such a new culture.